Add us as your preferred source on Google to see more of our content in Search.
Add to Preferred SourcesUnitaid and partners launched a trio of innovations that will work together to fight tuberculosis through gene-based diagnosis, better treatments and ingenious technologies that help patients remember to take their medicines.
The ~US$ 50 million in new investments was presented at the Union World Conference on Lung Health in India, confirming Unitaid’s position as the world’s largest multilateral funder of TB research and development. Unitaid’s TB portfolio has nearly doubled over the past few years and is on track to reach US$ 300 million in 2020.
Unitaid’s new projects attack the epidemic on three important fronts: diagnosis, treatment, and adherence while working against drug-resistant infections. Drug-resistant TB poses a threat to the world’s gains against the epidemic.
“India, with the highest burden of TB globally, represents a fitting backdrop for launching Unitaid’s latest investments in the global response to end TB,” said Robert Matiru, Director of Programmes at Unitaid. “By attacking TB from multiple angles, these innovations are a promising, holistic response to the pressing need for new tools in this ancient fight”.
The projects are:
BENEFIT Kids: Led by Stellenbosch University in South Africa, the three-year, US$ 18.9 million project will increase access to quality-assured medicines for multidrug-resistant TB that are adapted for children.
ASCENT: This project uses mobile technology to help TB patients take their medicines on schedule, and healthcare workers to offer optimal support to patients who need it the most.
Seq&Treat: This project will pilot next-generation targeted genome sequencing, an innovation that provides a fast, accurate diagnosis of drug-resistant TB. Better diagnosis enables patients to get the right treatment earlier. The technology also has the potential to be an effective tool against drug-resistant microbes, which develop when medicines are misused.
Original source: Unitaid
Published on 01 November 2019